Zomba Officials Wind Up Visit To Sister City Urbana

Two officials from Urbana's sister city in the African country of Malawi were scheduled to wind up their trip here Thursday night with a reception at the home of University of Illinois President Michael Hogan. It was the last major event in what's been a busy week for Charles Kalemba and Mussa Mwale of Zomba. Kalemba is Zomba's chief executive officer --- similar to a city manager --- and Mwale is his administrative director.

Kalemba said he hopes the meetings he's had this week in Urbana can lead to constructive projects between the two cities --- and between the University of Illinois and Zomba's Chancellor College campus of the University of Malawi. He also said he welcomes the personal contacts he's made.

"Let me say that we've also found out the friendliness of the people," Kalemba said. "We actually, from day one till now, been meeting people, friendly people, discussions, interested to know what Zomba is all about, what Malawi's all about, what Africa's all about."

During their visit to Urbana, Kalemba and Mwale have received the key to the city from Mayor Laurel Prussing, and presented gifts to city council members. They attended a Rotary Club meeting, a concert at the Krannert Center, toured local schools, and met the public during a Wednesday night "Malwai Mixer" at the Urbana Civic Center on Wednesday that attracted several dozen residents.

It was at the Malawi Mixer especially that Kalemba says he met many potential visitors to his city.

"A lot of people now are I think, aware of the (sister city) relationship," Kalemba said. "And a lot of people are now saying, what can we do to go? So I think Dennis and Scott are the ones who are going to coordinate here to see how best we start this. Because I think there's a lot of response, these few days we've been here."

Scott Dossett and Urbana Alderman Dennis Roberts serve on the Urbana Sister Cities committee, and have both visited Zomba --- several times, in Roberts' case. They say they hope to organize another trip of Urbana residents to Zomba later this year.

The Zomba-Urbana sister city relationship comes under the auspices of the group Sister Cities International. Officials from the two cities attended the group's national conference in Arlington, Virginia last weekend.

Zomba has more than twice the population of Urbana, but about the same land area. Besides being home to Chancellor College, Zomba is the capitol of Zomba District, and the former national capital of Malawi. Urbana residents are already working with people in Zomba on water and sanitation projects funded by a grant from Sister Cities International.

(Photo courtesy of Scott Dossett)